Day 12: Cake Batter Pudding Cookies

The Kids and I made these back in the spring to send to my husband when he was deployed. Of coarse, we kept quite a few for ourselves. They were delicious!!!! This recipe is. a. KEEPER! My husband loved them too even after they made the week long trip through the mail to reach him.

If you are sending them to a loved one in the mail, someone recently gave me a really great tip. Package them with vacuum packed food storage/saver bags! Ummm...why have I never thought of that?!? She told me that is how she sends cookies to her son overseas and he says they are really good and fresh when he gets them. She also said she will do several small packs with just a few cookies so he opens them as he wants to eat them. Hard to believe, I've never heard that tip before or thought of it myself.

These fabulous cookies comes from a really great blog called, Chef in Training ! The blogger, Nikki, is a stay at home mom who's claim to fame (at least on her blog) is that she is teaching herself to cook "one recipe at a time". WOW, if this recipe was a learning experiment for someone learning to cook, you'd never know it! Its FANTASTIC!!! The blog is really great too with lots of recipes that I can't wait to try!!! 

NOTE: If you've pinned this recipe in the past on pinterest, the pin may not work anymore...at least it wouldn't for me but I had no problems finding the blog because the blog name was on the picture. I'm so glad too because I would have been really upset to have lost this recipe to internet land!

Enjoy!

 

CAKE BATTER PUDDING COOKIES

1 1/2 sticks (or 3/4 cup) butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix, dry
3/4 cup yellow cake mix, dry
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2-1/4 cups flour”
1/2 tsp salt
sprinkles
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Stir together flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars together.
Add in pudding package and cake mix and beat until well blended.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth.
Add flour mixture slowly until well incorporated.
Mix in sprinkles sprinkles.
Roll into 1″ balls and place on greased baking sheet.
Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes.
Enjoy!

*Note: It is just the powdered pudding mix inside the packet you use.  Just open it up and pour it in.  It is in a box like this:I hope that helps!

Day 11: Barbie Doll Organizer

 

With the growing number of Barbies entering my house, I had to come up with a way to get them off my floor and organized where they were accessible for Kaylea when she wanted to play with them. I got an over the door shoe organizer to put on the back of her bedroom door. Such a great idea! 

She can look at them whenever she wants and can reach most of them but the ones near the top, she uses her bathroom stool to reach. She also really likes putting them away, which is wonderful!!!

Day 10: Coconut Ginger Chicken & Vegetables

 

 

So here I am about 7 months into this blog where I promised 100 days of pinterest in a years time and I'm only on my 10th post. At this rate I'll complete the task in about 5-6 YEARS! I'm thinking maybe a year wasn't a reasonable amount of time to put on such a task. The biggest setback has been from my husband's deployments and TDY's. When he's gone, I don't cook much. My kids are soooo picky!! They won't eat anything I make hardly unless I want to make all the junk food I've pinned on my "A Spoon Full of Sugar" board but then we'd all weigh about 500 lbs by the end of the year and that's not good! Then there has been those few things I tried that either I forgot to blog about or just wasn't blog worthy. On top of all that we have a possible overseas move lurking in our future [Fall 2013] which I'm sure will be an even bigger setback to this blog... at least until we get settled.

When I'm blogging, I always share the link to the site where the recipe can be found so that I give credit, where credit is due. I also like to post the recipe or directions on my blog because sometimes, those site links stop working and then that idea or Pin gets lost in the world of internet land possibly forever. By posting the recipe or directions on my blog, I am able to have it at the tip of my fingers whenever I want it. So I guess you could say this blog also serves as my own personal pinterest recipe & idea box.

Between volunteering in my son's classroom, being PTO President at his school, helping with the Fundraising Committee at my daughters preschool and keeping up with my children's busy schedules of sports and activities, some evenings I'm just too tired to cook or I've forgotten to thaw out the meat for dinner! So then we have to order pizza or go out to eat. Which, I mentioned above that my kids are picky... Yes, they won't even eat pizza!!! What kid doesn't like PIZZA! MINE, of coarse. My son doesn't even like CHOCOLATE, but that's another story for another time. Anyway, the point I was going to make with this is, due to our busy lives, I'm trying to use my "Workin' Man's Skillet" (AKA the Crockpot) more often! 

This workin' man's skillet recipe, Coconut Ginger Chicken and Vegetables is very eye catching with all the colors. It was good but it wasn't great.... needed a little more flavor. I wouldn't totally toss the recipe, but maybe tweak it next time I made it. My husband and I both think it would have been so much better if it had curry. 

A perfect example of my above statement about losing pins in the land of the internet is this one. Last week it worked for me but today it says the site is temporary unavailable. So I'm going to give you the the web address where it used to be in hopes that it will work again one day. The site is: www.simplebites.net/coconut-ginger-chicken-vegetables-slow-cooker/

Now one would think, that a workin' man's skillet recipe would be a quick toss in all the ingredients, turn it on and go. No! With this recipe you need to allow yourself about an hour's time to get it going, which I did not! So I skipped parts of the process in order to get out the door. I don't think it had any effect on the overall dish. Below is the recipe, adapted by me (the quick way). If you want the long way to make it you'll have to see the website if it ever works again.

Slow Cooker Coconut Ginger Chicken & Vegetables

(Serve with brown or jasmine rice) 

Ingredients:

4 Cloves Garlic

2 inch cube of ginger, peeled, roughly chopped

1 small sweet onion, peeled, quartered

1 TBS olive oil

2 TBS butter, melted

2.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into four (or breast, if you prefer)

2 cans coconut milk, not shaken ( I used lite - see note below)

2 TBS cornstarch

1 can baby corn cobs

1 bag frozen stir fry vegetables of your choice or peas (see note below)

For the spice blend:

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground corriander

1 1/2 tsp ground tumeric

1 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Combine spice blend together and set aside
2. In mini food processor, combine garlic, onion and ginger and pulse until it forms a paste.
3. Melt butter and olive oil together, place in the bottom of the crock pot
4. Add spice blend and paste; stir well.
5. Add chicken, stir to coat with seasoning mixture
6. Open coconut milk, if using regular [not lite] remove cream from top and set aside 
7. Drain corn cobs and chop in half ( I used the can that was already cut up). Add to crock pot.
8. Cook on low about 4-5 hours
9. Wisk together reserved coconut milk creme (see note if you used lite) with cornstarch. Add to chicken and mix well. 
10. Add frozen vegetables of your choice, cook for another 30 minutes to an hour or until chicken is cooked (no longer pink) and vegetables are done to your liking.

NOTES:

1. I saved myself 200 calories by using the lite coconut milk, which did not have cream on top. So in step number 9, I used a ladle and scooped out a few scoops of the broth that had formed in the crock pot to whisk with the cornstarch.
2. The original recipe called for 1 cup of vegetables. I used 1 bag plus a handful of frozen peas and a handful of frozen peppers and onion from another stir fry bag. I had bought it first but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a bag that had the snow peas, carrots and broccoli. So my version has a lot more vegetables than the original version. 
3. Like I said, I think it would be better as a curry. Not sure how much curry I'd use or which spices to replace it with...if any.
4. This dish is not spicey so it would be safe to serve to your children. If you would prefer it to have a little kick to it, double the ginger and add about 1/2 tsp of chili flakes or crushed red pepper.

Day 9: Lego Tray Gift Idea

How cute is this!

 

This is the cutest gift ever for any little Lego fan. You could also paint it pink or purple and give the new Lego "Friends" for girls. I am so making these for gifts next year. Here is the site where you can find this idea and much more: Somewhat Simple

Step by Step directions:

First, cut 1/2″ plywood to 15″x15″ and 1×2 boards: 2 @ 15″ and 2 @ 16.5″. Then pre-drill pocket holes on all four sides of plywood and attach the 15″ side pieces and then the 16.5″ pieces to the plywood. Just to secure the side pieces together, nail the corners with 1 1/2″ finish nails, then use a nail punch to hide the nail heads and filled them up with wood putty.

After measuring the center of the 15″ side, align and mark holes for handles on both sides. Then, pre-drill holes for the handles. Give the whole tray a quick sanding, then wipe it down with a damp cloth. Give the tray a couple of thin coats of paint. Then, print name, centered on the side of the tray and used a ballpoint pen to trace the letters, creating an indention on the wood.

After painting inside the indention, seal the entire piece with a couple of coats of satin polyurethane. Then  apply Gorilla glue to the plywood and attached the Lego base plate. Weigh it down with some paint cans and let it dry overnight.

 

 Add some felt circles to the bottom  attach the handles.

 

Finally, add a small Lego set, some ribbon, cute bow and tag. Voila, you now have a great unique gift to give at children's birthday parties, holidays or just because!!! 

Day 8: Chicken Enchiladas with Avocado Cream Sauce

 

This week I made a delicious new Chicken Enchilada with Avocado Cream Sauce recipe that I pinned a while back. In my house, we LOVE Mexican food. After living in San Antonio for 5 years, we had some great restaurants that we would frequent but sadly, once we moved away the good Mexican food came to an end.  I try finding recipes on pinterest to satisfy our hankering for Mexican whenever I can. 

This recipe was really good. I'll definitely make it again. The only thing I did differently was instead of layering the chicken and the vegetable mixture, I mixed it together. I think next time, I'd make extra sauce too.

What's For Dinner... Is the blog where the recipe I found the recipe. This is a really cute blog where the gal shows ideas for gifts, recipes and ideas for the home. Totally worth checking out. She gives recipe credit to this blog for the recipe: gimme some oven . I love it when I find two great blogs to follow from one pin! Enjoy!

Chicken enchiladas with avocado cream sauce

You will need:
Enchilada Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium white or yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 poblano peppers, stemmed and thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
• 8-10 flour tortillas
• 4 cups shredded cooked chicken(rotisserie works best)
• 2-3 cups Monterrey Jack cheese
• optional garnish: fresh cilantro, sour cream, and/or shredded cheese

Avocado Cream Sauce Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 California avocados, peeled and pitted
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• juice of one lime

First make the avocado cream sauce: Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the flour, whisking until golden and bubbly, about 2-3 minutes. Slowly whisk the broth into the flour mixture. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the sour cream, cumin, salt, garlic powder and pepper, whisking if necessary to remove any lumps. Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a blender or food processor. Add avocados, cilantro and lime juice, and pulse until smooth and well-blended. (Be very careful blending hot liquids — the heat will expand! So be sure to remove the lid occasionally so that the heat can escape.) Season with additional salt or pepper if needed.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, poblano and jalapeno, and saute for 5-6 minutes until the onions are cooked and translucent. Remove from heat.
To assemble the enchiladas, place a tortilla on a flat surface. Spread a tablespoon or two of the avocado sauce down the middle of the tortilla. Then layer on some of the vegetable mixture, shredded chicken and cheese. Carefully roll the tortilla and place it seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas. Drizzle the top with about half of the remaining avocado cream sauce, then cover the dish with foil and bake for about 20 minutes, or until tortillas are heated through and begin to harden.
Remove from the oven, then serve individual enchiladas drizzled with the remainder of the avocado cream sauce. You can also garnish with additional cilantro, cheese, and/or sour cream.
Thank you to Give Me Some Oven for this awesome recipe! I doubled the recipe so I have another entire meal in the freezer! The sauce totally makes this dish! wow so good! Side note: this sauce would make a delicious dressing for salads as well.

Day 7: Free Spelling Games & Activities

It's been a while since my last blog but that doesn't mean I haven't been trying out ideas and recipes I've pinned on pinterest. No. Just that I have a lot of blogging to do to catch up (sigh).

I found this website on pinterest called, KidsSpell.com where you can type in your kids spelling words and they can play games to help them learn and retain the spelling words.  This is really great especially in a time where most states are going to the "common core" curriculum and they aren't "testing" kids anymore. My first grader is expected to learn the words through activities they do in class. So far it hasn't been a problem for him because he learns very quickly, but that leaves me to wonder how the kids that are struggling do.  I haven't used this website yet but my plan it to load all the words that he had this year into the site so he can practice them over Christmas break.   If we like the site, I'll continue each week once school starts back in January.

Day 6: Hot Corn Dip

I know!!! Its been a while since my last post.  I've just been really busy with school starting and PTO that I haven't been able to Blog or even PIN.  This one is definitely one for your recipes fo' sure! It's quick, it's easy and it's GOOD!

I pinned this recipe a LONG time ago and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make.  Today I had a Matilda Jane Trunk Show so finally I had a gathering of people and reason to make this dip!  Its from a site called Gina Marie's Kitchen and it is worth making!  This is a great dip for football party.  I already know that if we have a Superbowl party or attend one, this one is getting made.  Everyone who came today for the Trunk Show LOVED it!!

 

HOT CORN DIP 

• 2 cups shredded chedder cheese
• 1 cup shredded Montery Jack
• 2 tbs chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced small
• 1 small can (4oz) diced green chilies, undrained
• 1/2 cup Mayo
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 11oz can of corn, drained
• 1 small tomato
• 2 tbs cilantro, chopped
• 2 tbs green onions, sliced thin
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix the cheeses, chiptole and green peppers, mayo, garlic powder and corn together. Pour into an oven safe dish.
3. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly
4. Top with diced tomatoes, green onions, and cilantro. Serve immediately with tortilla chips.

I knew I would be in a time crunch with getting the kids off to 2 different schools this morning, so I made this last night, kept it covered in the fridge and baked it this morning. It was fine. I had my topping ready to go after it came out of the oven.  SO EASY!